Question

Compare and contrast between the three main types of lipids found in biomembranes.

Answer 1

The three major types of lipids found in biomembranes are as follows : phosphoglycerides, sphingolipids and sterols.

These three types of lipids can be compared as follows:

	Phosphoglycerides	Sphingolipids	Sterols
Monomers	Glycerol backbone + 2 hydrophobic fatty acid groups + 1 polar head group	Sphingocine backbone + 1 hydrophobic fatty acid groups + 1 polar head group	Not a polymer, have a distinctive 4 ring structure
Head group moities	Phosphate group + choline/ethanolamine/serine/inositol	Phosphate group + choline/ethanolamine/ssimple sugar residue/ oligosaccharide residue	Hydroxyl head group attached to sterol ring structure
Subtypes	Phosphatidyl choline (PC), Phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE), Phosphatidyl serine (PS) and Phosphatidylinositol (PI)	Ceramide, Sphingomyelin, cerebroside, ganglioside	Cholesterol, ergosterol, sitosterol, stigmasterol